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Saturday, January 21, 2012

So you had a few drinks with friends and a few more over your lover so what do you do about the morning after? Yeah, the pounding headache? Some people suggest a Bloody Mary , ham egg and cheese on a everything bagel, two Excedrin and a bottle of Gatorade. That combination sounds like a vomiting secession. I’m not sure I want to ingest anything else no less that stuff.

Yeah the real hangover not the movie. The pain from the back of your head that swirls to the front if you dare to move your head hangover. It all just hurts. It could be accompanied by headache, vomiting and vertigo. Then there is anxiety and depression and a sense of doom. We all know it can happen but we never consider it when we open the next bottle of wine or order another round of drinks.

Dr. Steven Lamb is an Internist from New York City. He describes the hangover as a perfect cocktail of dehydration. Low blood sugar, sleep disruption and even mental instability. Yeah ! We all want some of that ! Bartender give me another beer!

It sounds like hangovers are no joke but hollywood thinks it is great humor and hollywood influences everyone. We love the movies. In “The Nutty Professor” Jerry Lewis was assaulted by his headache and the 2009 big hit ironically called “The Hangover” was such a box office success they made a sequel to it. But lets face it, in the real world a hangover is nothing to laugh at.

So, why has mankind been under the alcoholics influence since biblical times? Noah came in his Arc and planted his vineyard and got a hangover and then banished Cain and his descendants to a life of slavery according to the Bible. Frank Kelly Rich is the editor of a magazine called” Modern Drunkard” where he notes that the hangover like the Devil has been called many names throughout history such as Crapulence , The Morning Fog, The Black Dog, The Jim Jams, Bust Head, mostly terms that the working class came up with.

In about 1906 the term, Hangover became a common name for the feelings felt from the night before. Probably from hanging over a sink or toilet. The cure has always been an elusive goal. The ancient Greeks would engrave their wine cups with praises to the drinking Gods. The Romans would eat owl’s eggs for a cure. Less appetizing cures came from the Mongolians who would eat sheep eyes. The Syrians would grind up Sparrow beaks mixed with water and drink it. People that were into Voodoo would take the cork of the offending bottle and stick it with needles to stop a hangover.

When the industrial revolution came at the turn of the century when it seemed all Americans had a factory job, the “one day flu was invented” as an excuse to get out of work the morning after a drinking bout. Throughout the years there have been many products out there that claim to cure the hangover blues. Packages like Chaser Plus, Hangover Buster, Drinkin’ Mate and Hangover TKO. One of the newest is a preventative drink called Mercy. It is a cocktail fortified with a lot of nutrients like amino acids, oxidants, vitamins, chamomile extract and milk to protect your liver. Still for every can of “Mercy” there are still dozens of other so called cures.

Obviously, the only fool proof way to avoid a hangover is not to drink at all. The doctor says but if you do drink, try to keep to clear liquids like vodka or gin. Have some food and try to sleep earlier. The morning after, have some caffeine or aspirin or acetaminophen, tea with honey or ginger just to settle your gastrointestinal tract. So, if you have a hangover in the morning, you probably won’t be reading this. Just go back to bed.The last time you had a hangover...the past month 8% of people; the last 6 months 13%; a year or longer 44%; 34 % said never don't drink